Legion of Super Heroes #1 preview

[Korath]

Manchuria has a long history of Japanese occupation, right?

Not exactly. Manchu are descendants of some Jurchen tribes (at least they said they were, as is often the case with tribal ethnicities, things can be a lot more complex than that), themselves a part of the Tungusic ethnic group, that is peoples originating from East Asia and Siberia. Ethnically speaking, they are thus very distinct from the Han (the main ethnic group in China), and while they ruled over them, notably with the Qing Dynasty, Manchu imposed strict separations between Han and Manchu (like a lot of steppes-born dynasties did) while adopting a lot of the Han's cultural heritage and adding their own over it. Hence, the braids.

In essence, Manchu did the exact same things Mongols and -in Europe - the Germanic tribes did when they conquered China/Western Rome. They took over, adapted some institutions and added their own cultural traits to it, but in essence, they did retain a lot of respect and fascination for the Chineses/Romans in term of religious displays, culture and heritage. If White settlers in America had done the same, the various ethnic groups of the Native may well have been subjugated by them but instead of being wiped out and their cultural legacy shattered or erased, White people would have taken their gods, their vision of the world and mixed it with their own.

In regard to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, it was the result of them setting up a puppet state here, to pillage the resources of the region. In essence, it was just another colonization effort, but down by non-Europeans, like they did at Taiwan and in the whole of Korea.

Yeah, China's been around, and pretty much monolithic, for three thousand years. I doubt it will be indistinguishable from Japan 1000 years from now...

It's a common idea, but it is actually very false. China has changed a lot over its history, like any country. It has never been a monolith, with constant changes of territories, culture and Empires.